Judge Bringing Tech Revolution to the Courts

India has a staggering 30 million cases awaiting resolution in its courts, according to the latest data from the country’s Supreme Court. A retired judge is seeking to speed the wheels of justice by overhauling the judiciary’s antiquated records systems with the latest technology.

G.C.B Judicial Technologies Ltd., founded in 2008 by 73-year-old retired Justice G.C. Bharuka, has pioneered a web-based system that enables judges to streamline court operations, schedule hearings and dispose of cases more efficiently than the paper-based system relied on by most of India’s courts. Worldjudiciary.org, focuses on lower courts and is already operational in three lower courts in the eastern Indian state of Bihar.

Though the Indian government has expressed its intention to reduce sharply the number of pending court cases, the task of doing so remains monumental. A shortage of judges and court staff and poor technology contribute to the for delays. The country’s courts already employ software that publishes the daily list of cases, orders and judgments on the web, but the system isn’t regularly updated.

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In 2005, Justice Bharuka, a former acting Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court in Bangalore, was named as the head of India’s program to computerize courts in the country. During his tenure he convinced the government to provide all judges with a laptop computer, a printer and basic Internet connectivity. He retired in 2008.

Justice Bharuka started introducing technology to India’s courts in 1990 when he brought in computerization at the Patna High Court, in Bihar, after becoming a judge there. When he moved to Karnataka High Court in introduced computerization there. Later he was appointed as the chairman of e-committee, a panel tasked with suggesting how best to implement technology in the court system.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Justice Bharuka said G.C.B. Judicial Technologies’ software will speed up disposal of cases by four times the current rate and unburden judges from the massive backlog of cases, speeding up the delivery of justice.

Edited Excerpts:

The Wall Street Journal: What inspired you to start this technology venture?

Justice Bharuka: I have seen the people suffering in my village; I have seen people suffering in the rural courts, even as a I was still a high school student. And from that day, I was wondering if I can do something for the nation. Later, as a lawyer and as a judge, whatever I have learnt is what I have converted as the online software. The software system is my commitment to the world and society at large. Through this technology we can bring about the judicial reforms in every country of the world and with the best possible costs because it is on cloud computing.

WSJ: What problem does your technology help to resolve

Justice Bharuka: Our main challenge in the country is how to reduce the number of pending cases in the courts.

India has more than 30 million cases pending for disposal at the various courts of law. About 95% of the cases are pending in the country in lower courts of law, and disposal rates are minimal. For every stage (of the case), there are time frames now, but all these things are being violated. Judicial reforms haven’t taken place at the grassroots level.

WSJ: How unique is this online software system

Justice Bharuka: The worldjudiciary.org system – an internet-based case flow management similar to that followed in the U.S., – has been designed in a manner so as to capture data relating to a case and each of its stages at source (that is as and when such data is created.) For this, user-friendly entry forms have been designed and made available to the judges and court staff through cloud computing. Based on this data, the required reports are generated, which facilitates reduction of backlogs, speedy disposal of cases, monitoring and supervision of cases and appropriately resolving all issues relating to backlog of cases.

WSJ: How do you think this can be implemented in India?

Justice Bharuka: All the judges and their staff in the lower courts have been provided with computers and Internet connectivity, through a national program. About 65% of staff in the judicial system are support staff, and mostly aged below 35-years with knowledge of technology.

WSJ: What about privacy of litigants, doesn’t publishing details online infringe on privacy?

Justice Bharuka: Privacy would not be affected since all the data to be published online is required to be made available in public domain as per law and is presently being done manually.

WSJ: How do you plan to take this to the next level of implementation?

Justice Bharuka: The technology company is not a commercial venture for me. I have some commitments in my life, for which I have been working. I alone cannot take the burden of implanting it across the country…. along with me there should be some IT company, they will only have to implement and maintain the software system.

I don’t have any commercial terms. Let them [companies] have the commercial terms and ultimately it is they who have to take forward this software. For me, more important is the implementation. I will not enter into with commercial terms, but if the company wants to give me something, yes this is what it is, and then I will plough back to another good work. I am not a commercial man.

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